Guatemala: ROBERTO ROMERO and CARMEN AIDA IBARRA

October 1, 2002

LRWC received reports from a number of sources that there had been additional threats to the lives, personal security and independence of Roberto Romero and Carmen Aida Ibarra, advocates involved in the trial of General Edgar Augusto Godoy Gaytan, Colonel Juan Guillermo Ovica Carrera and Colonel Juan Valencia Osorio on charges that they planned and directed the September 11 1990 murder of Myrna Mack Chang. The reported threats were: death threats against prosecutor Roberto Romero (August 23/02) and against his son Manuel Gerardo Romero (September 11/02), an armed attack of Roberto Romero’s home (August 23/02) and the September 11/02 intimidation by surveillance of Carmen Aida Ibarra. The continuation of such criminal acts, apparently conducted free from government interference or containment, negatives prior advances towards establishing the rule of law and an end to impunity in Guatemala.

LRWC has also written to call on the government of Guatemala for:

an immediate and thorough investigation into the threats, intimidation and illegal surveillance of Roberto Romero, Manuel Gerardo Romero and Carmen Aida Ibarra,

An thorough investigation into criminal acts against other witnesses, judges and lawyers involved in the Myrna Mack investigation and trial, the results obtained to be made public, and;